Rune Factory 4

Your happy news for you. Rune Factory 4 (ルーンファクトリー4 Rūn Fakutorī 4) is a simulation/role-playing video game developed by Neverland Co. and published by Marvelous Entertainment for the Nintendo 3DS handheld console. It was announced in Famitsu on June 29, 2011 and will be released later in Spring 2012 (previously late 2011). It is the sixth game in the Rune Factory series, and the first to be released on the 3DS. Will English version will use the subtitle "A Fantasy Harvest Moon" in this title again? Let's see later on.

Like Tides of Destiny, there are 2 main character as usual, Lest (male, top;) and Frey (female, bottom). But unlike Tides of Destiny, at the start of the game, you can choose either of them. (I prefer Frey more than Lest because she is female) Anyway, Let's go to the story section.

The story's setting in the kingdom of Selfia, the protagonist falls from an airship and loses their memory. They are saved by an elder named Volkanon, and the protagonist must act as the town's temporary prince/princess. Frey/Lest tells whomever you're playing as has potential to be an Earthmate, just as the three protagonists before them (Raguna, Kyle, and Micah) and they can communicate with dragons.

So far, there are only 3 bachelor and bachelorettes, there are: Margaret, Dolce, and Bishnal. When a potential loves first shows up in Rune Factory 4, you get to see a movie of them. Once you start courting members of the opposite gender, you won’t have to dive straight into marriage after getting together — you’ll have the opportunity to maintain your relationship as lovers, not just with one but with multiple candidates.

See? How's the formation?

Next up is farming. You aren’t restricted to a strict grid in Rune Factory 4 while planting crops. Once you find a nice field to farm in, you can plant crops in whatever formation you choose. You can even grow giant crops (Like Harvest Moon DS).

To marry someone, you must have romantic date first. They're more innocent and romantic, such as playing piano, fishing or even talking. At first, you must invite someone (by pressing L and R?). And the romantic scene occur so MC can even closer to spouse you want to marry. In the bottom screenshot, it's revealed we can see the emotion dialog even when talking.

Shop, err... it's the same system as Rune Factory 3. No complain for me what is the shop system. Please see these two pictures intsead. Oh, by the way, the two new characters is Wolkanon (the elder butler, bottom), and there is a new system. You can build up the town using Prince System. Constructing buildings and hold festivals are needed by spending Prince Points.

Finally, dungeons. Like previous games, Famitsu confirms that you can tame monsters in dungeons and raise them (I think with monster hut too). Rune Factory 4 is about 50% complete in June 30th and is due out this year. Please note that the updates will be out before Dungeons system and I will update this post as the new updates by Marvelous are out. I will check Siliconera.com often for updates.